All Questions
2,543 questions
11
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Class groups of normal domains over finite fields
Let R be a local, normal domain of dimension 2. Suppose that R contains a finite field. I am interested in knowing when the class group of R is torsion. In characteristic 0, this is known to be ...
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Does a universal Frobenius map exist?
For any prime p, one has the Frobenius homomorphism Fp defined on rings of characteristic p.
Is there any kind of object, say U, with a "universal Frobenius map" F such that for any prime p and any ...
12
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Weil Conjectures for nonprojective algebraic varieties
If we replace projective variety with algebraic variety in the statement of the Weil conjectures what happens? To me it seems the statement still makes sense. But is it still true?
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Weil Conjectures for Grassmannians
To establish the Weil conjectures for $n$-dimensional projective space over a finite field is elementary. Does there exist a simple direct proof of the conjectures for finite field Grassmannians?
10
votes
2
answers
393
views
Counting points on varieties of low codimension
The graduate students here at MIT have been thinking about questions like the following: Over $\mathbb{F}\_q$, how many symmetric matrices are there with nonzero determinant and $0$'s on the diagonal? ...
8
votes
1
answer
637
views
Cohomology map induced by the group actions on homogeneous vector bundles
Here is a topological question which seems quite elementary. The answer to this question may be useful e.g. in estimating the orders of the automorphism groups of some algebraic varieties and in ...
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How Does a Borel Subgroup Know Which Weights Are Dominant
Let $G$ be a simple group (say $SL_n$) and let $B$ be a Borel subgroup (say upper triangular matrices). Then all irreducible representations of $G$ are induced from one-dimensional representations of $...
12
votes
1
answer
513
views
Littlewood–Richardson–Type Rule for Cohomology Ring of Grassmannians
$\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}$The ordinary Grassmannian of k-planes in n-space is a coset space for $\GL_n$.
It is $\GL_n$ mod a maximal parabolic. Here there is a nice basis given by Schubert ...
15
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Can we count isogeny classes of abelian varieties?
Let's fix a finite field F and consider abelian varieties of dimension g over F. Can we say how many isogeny classes there are? Is it even clear that there's more than one isogeny class? For g=1, ...
17
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Can Hom_gp(G,H) fail to be representable for affine algebraic groups?
Let $G$ and $H$ be affine algebraic groups over a scheme $S$ of characteristic 0 and let $\textbf{Hom}_{S,gp}(G,H)$ be the functor $T \mapsto \text{Hom}\_{T,gp}(G,H)$
Theorem (SGA 3, expose XXIV, 7....
13
votes
3
answers
816
views
Constructing a degeneration (as a group scheme) of G_m to G_a
SGA 3, expose 12, remark 1.6 says that one can easily construct a group scheme over a discrete valuation ring with generic fiber Gm and special fiber Ga.
What is such an example?
2
votes
1
answer
276
views
Do subgroups respect the orbit-closure relation?
Suppose G is a Lie group (or algebraic group) acting on a manifold (or scheme) X, and H⊆G is a subgroup. Let x,y∈X be points such that x is in the closure of the orbit H⋅y (but not in H&...
1
vote
2
answers
325
views
How to make commutative algebraic groups strongly dualizable?
Let's use the notation of [A=>B] for Hom(A, B). Take a 1-dimensional algebraic torus G<...
11
votes
4
answers
3k
views
What does ramification have to do with separability?
Does ramification have anything to do with inseparability? It feels like an extension of Q in which p ramifies should somehow correspond to an extension of F_p(t). Does totally ramified <--> purely ...
48
votes
5
answers
15k
views
Algebraically closed fields of positive characteristic
I'm taking introductory algebraic geometry this term, so a lot of the theorems we see in class start with "Let k be an algebraically closed field." One of the things that's annoyed me is that as far ...
42
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Tannakian Formalism
The Tannakian formalism says you can recover a complex algebraic group from its category of finite dimensional representations, the tensor structure, and the forgetful functor to Vect. Intuitively, ...
13
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is the fixed locus of a group action always a scheme?
Suppose $G$ is an algebraic group with an action $G\times X\to X$ on a scheme. Does the fixed locus (the set of points x∈X fixed by all of $G$) have a scheme structure? You can obviously define the ...
14
votes
2
answers
989
views
Do orbits and stable loci of group actions have natural scheme structures?
Suppose G is an algebraic group with an action G×X→X on a scheme. Then many of the usual constructions you make when you talk about group actions on sets can be made scheme-theoretically. ...
11
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Constructing Affine Kac-Moody Groups
Does anyone know a simple construction for Affine Kac-Moody groups? There is a book by Kumar ("Kac-Moody groups, their flag varieties, and representation theory") that does the construction for the ...
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Characterisation for separable extension of a field
Can someone verify this for me.. or tell me what reference shows me this... is this true:
Let $k$ be a field. Then a field extension $K$ of $k$ is separable over $k$ iff for any field extension $L \...
8
votes
2
answers
481
views
Division Algebras as Algebraic Groups
If I'm given a division algebra D with Z(D)=F, then how can I view Dx as an algebraic group defined over F? I'd like to see first how Dx can be given the structure of a variety defined over F, and ...
16
votes
3
answers
5k
views
What is an Oper?
Given a curve C, and a reductive group G, there is a moduli stack Loc_G(C), the stack of G-local systems. I keep reading that there's a substack of "opers" but am having trouble locating a definition....
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Iwasawa and Cartan Decompositions.
Consider the tome of Bruhat and Tits: Groupes réductifs sur un corps local : I. Données radicielles valuées. Publications Mathématiques de l'IHÉS, 41 (1972), p. 5-251. (available on NUMDAM). I am ...
15
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Iwasawa Decomposition
Does anyone know where I can find a proof of the Iwasawa decomposition for reductive groups? I know that there are a couple of related results that are called the Iwasawa decomposition, but I am ...
18
votes
7
answers
6k
views
Langlands Dual Groups
Can someone explain, explicitly, how to, given a reductive complex algebraic group construct the Langlands dual group? I know it is a group with the cocharacters of G as its characters, but how does ...
19
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Hopf algebra reference
I was talking this morning to a colleague who thinks about combinatorial Hopf algebras. He mentioned several rings, which are of interest in combinatorics, for which he didn't know whether a Hopf ...
14
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Does every morphism BG-->BH come from a homomorphism G-->H?
Given a homomorphism f:G→H between smooth algebraic groups, we get an induced homomorphism of algebraic stacks Bf:BG→BH, given by sending a G-torsor P over a scheme X to the H-torsor PxGH, ...
31
votes
7
answers
10k
views
Quotients of Schemes by Free Group Actions
I've often seen people in seminars justify the existence of a quotient of a scheme by an algebraic group by remarking that the group action is free. However, I'm pretty sure they are also invoking ...
9
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Unipotent linear algebraic groups
Let $U_1$ be a unipotent group inside some Chevalley group $G$. For now, think of $G$ as being $SL_n(K)$ where $K$ is a field; then we can take $U_1$ to be a bunch of strictly upper triangular matrics....
22
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Is there a "universal group object"? (answered: yes!)
I want to say that a group object in a category (e.g. a discrete group, topological group, algebraic group...) is the image under a product-preserving functor of the "group object diagram", $D$. One ...
8
votes
2
answers
8k
views
What does "supersingular" mean?
Are supersingular primes and supersingular elliptic curves related?
(this was essentially a subquestion in my earlier question, but still looks sufficiently different to me to deserve a separate post)...
7
votes
1
answer
718
views
Ways to characterize supersingular primes?
I've read the definition, and it basically says p is a supersingular prime iff
the fundamental domain of a group generated by \Gamma(p) and a matrix ((0, 1), (-p, 0)) is rational.
And there's a ...
79
votes
12
answers
13k
views
Is there a high-concept explanation for why characteristic 2 is special?
The structure of the multiplicative groups of $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ or of $\mathbb{Z}_p$ is the same for odd primes, but not for $2.$ Quadratic reciprocity has a uniform statement for odd primes, ...
27
votes
7
answers
6k
views
Etale covers of the affine line
In characteristic p there are nontrivial etale covers of the affine line, such as those obtained by adjoining solutions to x^2 + x + f(t) = 0 for f(t) in k[t]. Using an etale cohomology computation ...
6
votes
4
answers
1k
views
When is a map given by a word surjective?
Let $w(x,y)$ be a group word in $x$ and $y$.
Let $x$ and $y$ now vary in $\operatorname{SL}_n(K)$, where $K$ is a field. (Assume, if you wish, that $K$ is an algebraically complete field of ...
25
votes
4
answers
2k
views
algebraic group G vs. algebraic stack BG
I've gathered that it's "common knowledge" (at least among people who think about such things) that studying a (smooth) algebraic group G, as an algebraic group, is in some sense the same as studying ...
10
votes
5
answers
990
views
Non-conjugate words with the same trace
Let n>=2, p a large prime, G = SL_n(Z/pZ).
If n=2, there are words that, while not conjugate in the free group, do have identical trace in G. For example, tr(g h^2 g^2 h)= tr(g^2 h^2 g h) for all g, ...
30
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Deformation theory of representations of an algebraic group
For an algebraic group G and a representation V, I think it's a standard result (but I don't have a reference) that
the obstruction to deforming V as a representation of G is an element of H2(G,V&...
20
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Equivalent statements of the Riemann hypothesis in the Weil conjectures
In the cohomological incarnation, the Riemann hypothesis part of the Weil conjectures for a smooth proper scheme of finite type over a finite field with $q$ elements says that: the eigenvalues of ...
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How to topologize X(R) when R is a topological ring?
Given a topological ring $R$, under what conditions and in what way, can one induce a topology on the $R$-points of a scheme $X$? For example, if $X$ is $P^n$ or $A^n$, one has natural topology on ...
30
votes
2
answers
10k
views
When is fiber dimension upper semi-continuous?
Suppose $f\colon X \to Y $ is a morphism of schemes. We can define a function on the topological space $Y$ by sending $y\in Y$ to the dimension of the fiber of $f$ over $y$.
When is this function ...
42
votes
9
answers
6k
views
Is every finite-dimensional Lie algebra the Lie algebra of an algebraic group?
Harold Williams, Pablo Solis, and I were chatting and the following question came up.
In Lie group land (where you're doing differential geometry), given a finite-dimensional Lie algebra g, you can ...
37
votes
4
answers
12k
views
Finite extension of fields with no primitive element
What is an example of a finite field extension which is not generated by a single element?
Background: A finite field extension E of F is generated by a primitive element if and only if there are a ...